Hibernate

Hibernate Performance Summary

The following charts show the performance of Hibernate (in green) relatively to other JPA/DBMS combinations (in gray).

Position #1 on the X-Axis (the fastest) is about 100 times faster than position #33 (the slowest).
In the chart below the Y-Axis represents result score (maximum 100) in logarithmic scale - higher is better:
JPA performance benchmark comparision Hibernate, EclipseLink, OpenJPA, DataNucleus, ObjectDB
In the chart below the Y-Axis represents result score (maximum 100) in linear scale - higher is better:
JPA performance benchmark comparision Hibernate, EclipseLink, OpenJPA, DataNucleus, ObjectDB


The configurations in which Hibernate has been tested are listed in the following table:

 Database + JPA ProviderNormalized Score
100 - Best,  0 - Worst		Final Position
1 - Best,  33 - Worst		Failed Tests
1Hibernate with HSQLDB embedded13.95  (out of 33)0
2Hibernate with H2 embedded11.07  (out of 33)0
3Hibernate with PostgreSQL server9.111  (out of 33)0
4Hibernate with Derby embedded8.312  (out of 33)0
5Hibernate with Derby server5.620  (out of 33)0
6Hibernate with H2 server3.423  (out of 33)0
7Hibernate with MySQL server2.728  (out of 33)0
8Hibernate with SQLite embedded0.6232  (out of 33)14

About Hibernate

Hibernate is the most popular object-relational mapping (ORM) library for Java. It was first released in 2002 by Gavin King, who later joined JBoss with Hibernate. In 2006 JBoss has been acquired by Red Hat that now owns also Hibernate.

Hibernate is available under the LGPL open source license.

In this benchmark Hibernate version 4.1 (which was released in February 2012) has been tested.

Hibernate Performance Tuning

The Hibernate default configuration is generally optimized for high performance, and works very well also with no tuning.

To maximize performance we followed the Hibernate Core and the Hibernate EntityManager instructions:

  • Database dialects have been defined using the hibernate.dialect property.
  • The javax.persistence.validation.mode property was set to NONE.
  • The c3p0 connection pool was enabled by setting the hibernate.c3p0.* properties.
  • The hibernate.order_updates property was set to true.
  • The hibernate.id.new_generator_mappings property was set to true.
  • The hibernate.jdbc.fetch_size property was set to 100.
  • The hibernate.jdbc.batch_size property was set to 30 and the hibernate.jdbc.batch_versioned_data property was set to true.
  • The hibernate.connection.release_mode property was set to on_close.
  • The hibernate.bytecode.use_reflection_optimizer property was set to true and the hibernate.bytecode.provider property was set to javassist.
  • Logging was disabled.

Note: Database schema generation was completed before time measurement started.

Solved Problems and Issues

The stack traces below demonstrate some exceptions that have been thrown when using Hibernate in previous runs of this benchmark and have been fixed by upgrading software and setting. 

javax.persistence.PersistenceException: org.hibernate.exception.SQLGrammarException: could not execute query
	at org.hibernate.ejb.AbstractEntityManagerImpl.convert(AbstractEntityManagerImpl.java:1235)
	at org.hibernate.ejb.AbstractEntityManagerImpl.convert(AbstractEntityManagerImpl.java:1168)
	at org.hibernate.ejb.QueryImpl.getResultList(QueryImpl.java:250)
	at org.jpab.node.NodeTest.retireveEntities(NodeTest.java:130)
	at org.jpab.Test.doAction(Test.java:250)
	at org.jpab.Runner$RetrieveAction.run0(Runner.java:540)
	at org.jpab.Runner$TestAction.run(Runner.java:507)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
Caused by: org.hibernate.exception.SQLGrammarException: could not execute query
	at org.hibernate.exception.SQLStateConverter.convert(SQLStateConverter.java:92)
	at org.hibernate.exception.JDBCExceptionHelper.convert(JDBCExceptionHelper.java:66)
	at org.hibernate.loader.Loader.doList(Loader.java:2452)
	at org.hibernate.loader.Loader.listIgnoreQueryCache(Loader.java:2192)
	at org.hibernate.loader.Loader.list(Loader.java:2187)
	at org.hibernate.loader.hql.QueryLoader.list(QueryLoader.java:452)
	at org.hibernate.hql.ast.QueryTranslatorImpl.list(QueryTranslatorImpl.java:363)
	at org.hibernate.engine.query.HQLQueryPlan.performList(HQLQueryPlan.java:196)
	at org.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.list(SessionImpl.java:1258)
	at org.hibernate.impl.QueryImpl.list(QueryImpl.java:102)
	at org.hibernate.ejb.QueryImpl.getResultList(QueryImpl.java:241)
	... 5 more
Caused by: java.sql.SQLException: data type cast needed for parameter or null literal
	at org.hsqldb.jdbc.Util.sqlException(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.jdbc.JDBCPreparedStatement.(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.jdbc.JDBCConnection.prepareStatement(Unknown Source)
	at org.hibernate.jdbc.AbstractBatcher.getPreparedStatement(AbstractBatcher.java:534)
	at org.hibernate.jdbc.AbstractBatcher.getPreparedStatement(AbstractBatcher.java:452)
	at org.hibernate.jdbc.AbstractBatcher.prepareQueryStatement(AbstractBatcher.java:161)
	at org.hibernate.loader.Loader.prepareQueryStatement(Loader.java:1616)
	at org.hibernate.loader.Loader.doQuery(Loader.java:717)
	at org.hibernate.loader.Loader.doQueryAndInitializeNonLazyCollections(Loader.java:270)
	at org.hibernate.loader.Loader.doList(Loader.java:2449)
	... 13 more
Caused by: org.hsqldb.HsqlException: data type cast needed for parameter or null literal
	at org.hsqldb.error.Error.error(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.error.Error.error(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.FunctionSQL.resolveTypes(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.ExpressionLogical.resolveTypes(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.ExpressionLogical.resolveTypes(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.QuerySpecification.resolveExpressionTypes(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.QuerySpecification.resolveTypesPartOne(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.QuerySpecification.resolveTypes(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.QueryExpression.resolve(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.ParserDQL.compileCursorSpecification(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.ParserCommand.compilePart(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.ParserCommand.compileStatement(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.Session.compileStatement(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.StatementManager.compile(Unknown Source)
	at org.hsqldb.Session.execute(Unknown Source)
	... 22 more

javax.persistence.RollbackException: Error while committing the transaction
	at org.hibernate.ejb.TransactionImpl.commit(TransactionImpl.java:93)
	at org.jpab.Test.doAction(Test.java:271)
	at org.jpab.Runner$UpdateAction.run0(Runner.java:564)
	at org.jpab.Runner$TestAction.run(Runner.java:507)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
Caused by: javax.persistence.PersistenceException: org.hibernate.exception.GenericJDBCException: Could not execute JDBC batch update
	at org.hibernate.ejb.AbstractEntityManagerImpl.convert(AbstractEntityManagerImpl.java:1235)
	at org.hibernate.ejb.AbstractEntityManagerImpl.convert(AbstractEntityManagerImpl.java:1168)
	at org.hibernate.ejb.TransactionImpl.commit(TransactionImpl.java:81)
	... 4 more
Caused by: org.hibernate.exception.GenericJDBCException: Could not execute JDBC batch update
	at org.hibernate.exception.SQLStateConverter.handledNonSpecificException(SQLStateConverter.java:140)
	at org.hibernate.exception.SQLStateConverter.convert(SQLStateConverter.java:128)
	at org.hibernate.exception.JDBCExceptionHelper.convert(JDBCExceptionHelper.java:66)
	at org.hibernate.jdbc.AbstractBatcher.executeBatch(AbstractBatcher.java:275)
	at org.hibernate.engine.ActionQueue.executeActions(ActionQueue.java:262)
	at org.hibernate.engine.ActionQueue.executeActions(ActionQueue.java:179)
	at org.hibernate.event.def.AbstractFlushingEventListener.performExecutions(AbstractFlushingEventListener.java:321)
	at org.hibernate.event.def.DefaultFlushEventListener.onFlush(DefaultFlushEventListener.java:51)
	at org.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.flush(SessionImpl.java:1206)
	at org.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.managedFlush(SessionImpl.java:375)
	at org.hibernate.transaction.JDBCTransaction.commit(JDBCTransaction.java:137)
	at org.hibernate.ejb.TransactionImpl.commit(TransactionImpl.java:76)
	... 4 more
Caused by: java.sql.BatchUpdateException: Batch entry 1 update Person set birthDate='1956-09-15 +03:00:00', city='XPCNOZUAKIJBQIVW', country='GTKNV', email='[email protected]', firstName='VPAQHJRNT', joinDate='1979-03-05 +02:00:00', lastLoginDate='2010-09-09 +03:00:00', lastName='FIKXUBCDSP', loginCount='173', middleName='QGAXGU', phone='221668502734689', state='DP', street='UPPDCMHIQXS', zip='456616781' where id='107279' was aborted.  Call getNextException to see the cause.
	at org.postgresql.jdbc2.AbstractJdbc2Statement$BatchResultHandler.handleError(AbstractJdbc2Statement.java:2569)
	at org.postgresql.core.v3.QueryExecutorImpl.processResults(QueryExecutorImpl.java:1796)
	at org.postgresql.core.v3.QueryExecutorImpl.execute(QueryExecutorImpl.java:407)
	at org.postgresql.jdbc2.AbstractJdbc2Statement.executeBatch(AbstractJdbc2Statement.java:2708)
	at org.hibernate.jdbc.BatchingBatcher.doExecuteBatch(BatchingBatcher.java:70)
	at org.hibernate.jdbc.AbstractBatcher.executeBatch(AbstractBatcher.java:268)
	... 12 more

java.lang.NoSuchFieldError: STRING
	at dialect.SQLiteDialect.(SQLiteDialect.java:46)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27)
	at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:513)
	at java.lang.Class.newInstance0(Class.java:355)
	at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:308)
	at org.hibernate.dialect.resolver.DialectFactory.constructDialect(DialectFactory.java:156)
	at org.hibernate.dialect.resolver.DialectFactory.buildDialect(DialectFactory.java:99)
	at org.hibernate.cfg.SettingsFactory.buildSettings(SettingsFactory.java:130)
	at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.buildSettingsInternal(Configuration.java:2833)
	at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.buildSettings(Configuration.java:2829)
	at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.buildSessionFactory(Configuration.java:1840)
	at org.hibernate.ejb.Ejb3Configuration.buildEntityManagerFactory(Ejb3Configuration.java:902)
	at org.hibernate.ejb.HibernatePersistence.createEntityManagerFactory(HibernatePersistence.java:57)
	at javax.persistence.Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory(Unknown Source)
	at javax.persistence.Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory(Unknown Source)
	at org.jpab.Runner.handleAction(Runner.java:285)
	at org.jpab.Runner.run(Runner.java:248)
	at org.jpab.Runner.main(Runner.java:78)